Search begins for IoD's Directors of the Year

The IoD First Trust Bank Director of the Year Awards recognise the outstanding achievements and leadership of directors in Northern Ireland across 10 categories.

For the past two years, winners from the Northern Ireland awards have gone on to claim the title of overall UK Director of the Year at the finals held in London.

Linda Brown, Director of IoD, Northern Ireland, said:

“The IoD First Trust Bank Director of the Year Awards are an opportunity for Northern Ireland’s directors to receive well deserved recognition for their high standards in leadership and business.

“Year after year, winners from the Northern Ireland finals have gone on to dominate the UK awards with five category winners and 5 highly commended directors this year alone, including Brendan McGurgan of CDE Global who won the UK Director of the Year title. Northern Ireland even claimed the only highly commended award in this overall category with Alastair Hamilton of Invest NI coming second to Brendan.

“The IoD aims to develop the leadership skills of directors and the success of our members on a national level proves that Northern Ireland continues to produce business men and women of the highest calibre.”

Des Moore, Managing Director of First Trust Bank said:

“The partnership between the IoD and First Trust Bank is long standing and we are delighted to be sponsoring the awards again this year, particularly after the success of last year.

“The Northern Ireland economy relies on strong, committed leaders across all parts of society and these awards celebrate this strong leadership and the individual director’s contribution to the success of their organisations in the private, public and third sectors.

A special award for the IoD Young Enterprise NI Director of the Year is made by Young Enterprise NI and sponsored by Concentrix.

Brendan McGurgan, Managing Director of CDE Global, said: “Winning the overall UK Director of the Year award last year was tremendous recognition and a motivational boost for the entire team at CDE Global.

“We have an incredibly talented pool of directors in Northern Ireland who lead organisations that are competing and winning on the world stage and I’d encourage business leaders across Northern Ireland to enter.”